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" '' JJVWMIiHIRJIIUVP
RED FOX
By H. M. Egbert
(Copyright by W. G. Chapman.)
Red Fox showed his teeth in a grin
as he entered his burrow. He had
had no adventures-., worthy of the
name that afternoon, but he meant to
have some that evening. That after
noon he had merely slunk through
the heather, investigating the food
supply. Now he curled himself up
snugly in his earth and prepared to
sleep until nightfall.
Red Fox was a bachelor. He was
a monster fox and one of the oldest
of the county. His splendid fur was
'known to every huntsman over a ra
dius of leagues. He had pitted his
wits against the hounds time and
again, and always won.
Life was nothing without the spice
of adventure. They say a fox loves
the hunt as much as the men, the
hounds and the horses. Red Fox was
hunted three times a week, and he
knew every trick of his trade. Some
day, when his strength and speed
began to fail him, the inevitable end
would come. The hounds would tear
his slim body, his mask and pads and
brush would be cut off to adorn some
hall. But of that Red Fox knew noth
ing. He thought that he was immor
tal When night came he slunk outj and
was soon going at full gallop across
the fields. The house that he had in
spected had a new chicken yard. It
was the work of a moment for Red
Fox to leap from a bough to the coop
and seize a fat cockerel by the neck.
As he was carrying off his prey he
saw the farmer come out of his house
and point a gun at him.
Red Fox was immediately in the
line of fire. He did not know what a
gun was, but he knew lhat it spelled
danger. He snarled and showed his
teeth and the farmer, muttering, put
' his gun down and let Red Fox gallop
away. Tor nobody in England dares
JpshoaLj). fox unless he wants to
bring down upon his head the wrath
of a hunt-loving countryside.
Red Fox bounded away toward his
burrow. But at a distance of 500
yards some instinct caused him to
stop. He smelled something. It was a
man, somewhere near him, and he
knew that the man was not passively
hostile, as all men were, but an in
veterate enemy.
Cautiously he skulked forward un
til he came within sight of his bur
row. Then he crouched in the under
growth and saw the man bending
He Began to Be Vaguely Distressed
over it Red Fox skulked there until
the man was gone.
When at last,, by devious ways, he
reached his burrow he found it shut.
The man was the earth-stopper and
he had blocked Red Fox's home so
that he should not be able to evade
the hounds on the morrow. It would
be a chase to the death his death.
Vaguely uneasy, Red Fox sniffed
about the place, and then, warned by
phis same instinct, he trotted about
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